“In Conversation” with ICRC Sports and Inclusion Advisor

10/7/2018

As part of the video series “In Conversation”, Intercross Editor Niki Clark speaks with Jess Markt, ICRC’s Sport and Inclusion Advisor.

Injured following a spinal cord accident at age 19, Markt teamed up with the ICRC in 2011 to bring one of America’s best loved-sports, basketball, to wheelchair-bound men and women in Afghanistan, Cambodia, India, South Sudan and elsewhere.

In the process, these players, whose once primary identity was ‘disabled’, now see themselves as ‘athletes’ first.

In this interview, Markt talks about his position, the role sport plays in helping the disabled recover both physically and emotionally and how sport is bringing joy to countries like Afghanistan after decades of conflict.

About

The ICRC started work in Israel and the occupied territories in 1948, following the first Israeli-Arab conflict. Its presence became permanent in the aftermath of the 1967 war. The organization focuses on the protection of civilians and the welfare of detainees held in Israeli and Palestinian places of detention, and helps the most vulnerable. The ICRC supports the Palestine Red Crescent Society and the Magen David Adom (the Israeli National Society).